MPLab Setup

This page is intended to help simplify the task of setting up a project using MPLab. MPLab is an IDE (Integrated Development Environment): software designed to help manage program code. It includes its own text editor functionality, including syntax highlighting (to make the code more readable), it allows you to associate related code files into a single "workspace", and it contains references to the compiler/linker used to convert your code into an executable that the Vex controller can run.

The following guide was used to set up our initial project configuration:


However, below are a few notes from personal experience to help clarify possible points of confusion:

• In the end, your project should have the following hierarchy (of the files shown, only main.c is created by you, although you may have other .c files along with this one if you choose). Also, we copied all of the files listed below into the same directory as the .mcp file itself (ie, put them all in the same project directory).
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• Once your project is set up according to the above-mentioned guide and hierarchy, there is one last step required. From the main menu, choose Project->Build Options->Project:
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• In the resulting window, chose the "MPLab C18" Tab. Under the Macro Definitions section, hit the Add button, and type in "_VEX_BOARD" (without the quotations) and hit Ok. Then hit the Add button again, and type in "_LARGE_CODE", and hit Ok. The window should now look like this:
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